


Fashion Statement

by Soapbubblesoul



Series: Uncut Ties - Behind the Curtains [5]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, Chinese Legend, Domestic, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, New York
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-08-19 10:07:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16532495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soapbubblesoul/pseuds/Soapbubblesoul
Summary: Yifan finds new ways to express himself through his fashion, but his audience isn't Chinese enough to realise what he is saying. Thankfully.





	Fashion Statement

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't intend to write anything for Yifan's birthday but then somehow this thing happened. unedited, unbetaed.
> 
> Happy Birthday Yifan!!!

The clock on the nightstand shows 3:00 a.m. and surprisingly, Yixing is fast-asleep next to him. Considering that it is only Yixing's third day since arriving, Yifan surely hadn't expected him to adjust to the time difference that quickly. It should be jarring, to have one's body clock mismatch the alarm clock by twelve hours. Even Yifan, who has been frequenting between America and China so often that he should have developed a routine for adjusting as quickly as possible by now, hasn't quite managed yet to get his body to not feel as if it's the middle of the day instead of the middle of the night.

Then again, Yifan knows that Yixing has long lost all concept of time either way. Expecting the other to know which day of the week it is would be ludicrous, and Yifan wouldn't be surprised if Yixing didn't even know which year they have. Between his flights from China to America to Europe to Australia and back to Asia, and his schedules and composing keeping him up until the wee hours, it is to be expected that the numbers Yixing's phone's lockscreen flashes up at him don't mean anything to him anymore.

So knocking out at three in the afternoon seems even more likely for Yixing than being in bed by three in the morning. It worries Yifan, frankly, but he knows that Yixing doesn't do anything in halves. He just hopes that Yixing will get more rest once the album promotions are over, even if that will still take a few months.

And somehow, he also can't complain too much, because these album promotions brought Yixing here, to him, where they can lie in the same hotel bed again for the first time in months. So Yifan pushes all worries from his mind, and instead tightens his hold on Yixing. He presses a kiss to Yixing's forehead and lingers there to inhale deeply. Yixing's hair smells like the hotel's shampoo, but underneath the floral scent are the notes that are just Yixing, and Yifan's chest tightens slightly with emotions.

He himself might not be able to sleep yet, but he can't bring himself to mind when it means he gets to savour Yixing's presence all the more.

___

4:00 a.m. finds Yifan fast-asleep, and Yixing wide-awake. He doesn't really do "sleep" anymore but rather his sleeping schedule has shifted to consisting solely of naps, which vary in length depending on how much time he has. Sometimes he's only asleep for half an hour in the car between schedules, sometimes he catches three hours of sleep between the end of a recording and heading to the airport the next morning.

He doesn't remember when he last got a solid eight hours of sleep. Even when he doesn't have any schedule that requires him to get up at a set time he would rarely spend more than five hours in bed. In the long run, it's not a sustainable lifestyle, and Yixing knows. He is starting to feel the effects already, but he refuses to give in just yet. Definitely not before he has managed to come full circle with his music.

Right now, however, he is still lying in bed. If he were alone, he'd long gotten up to sit with his laptop and tweak some of the tunes he is working on at the moment. He isn't alone, however. Yifan is peacefully asleep next to him, one arm slung loosely around Yixing's waist, their legs dangled under the blanket. It has always been one of Yixing's favourite sights, although he doesn't get to witness nearly as often as he would wish to. It's one of the sacrifices he has to make for his dream, one of the tougher ones, so he refuses to waste this opportunity.

Yixing is very thankful that Yifan is not a light sleeper, so he doesn't have to fear waking Yifan when he traces his fingers over Yifan's cheek before brushing a strand of hair from his face. The mullet is absolutely hideous, but Yixing has discovered that at least it is still soft to the touch, so he proceeds to card his fingers through the strands. When Yifan sighs silently and leans into the touch, a smile spreads on Yixing's face. Unable to resist, he leans in to plant a soft kiss against Yifan's lips.

"What are you being so adorable for," he whispers for no one to hear aside from himself.

He wishes to share his music with the world. That is why he came to America. But Yixing can't deny that this, being able to lie in Yifan's arms and watch him sleep in the silence of the night, is a wonderful extra. So Yixing shuffles closer to Yifan, until his head is tucked under Yifan's chin. With his eyes closed, Yixing's entire body relaxes as he breathes in Yifan's scent.

__

At 6:00 a.m. Yifan still resides in the realm of dreams, but the space next to him is empty. Yixing had planned to fall asleep again, buried in his lover's side, or to at least stay in a hazy state of being barely conscious until their alarm clock would force both of them out of bed. But when inspiration hits, it hits. Yixing's creativity has run so dry lately, as if producing NAMANANA took every last bit of inspiration he had. So when a melody pops into his head while he's absent-mindedly listening to Yifan's breathing, he just has to extricate himself from Yifan's hold.

For over an hour now he has been toying various beats, trying to figure out what rhythm best goes with the melody that is floating through his head. In the upper right corner of his display, a text file is open with disjointed phrases, a very stark skeleton of the lyrics he intends to pair with the song. It is very much unlike him, to be working on every aspect of the song at once, but it's all there in his head, words and notes and a feeling he wants to capture. He doesn't want to lose any of it. 

The sun rises without him even taking notice of it, buried so deep in the world of music that his surroundings cease to exist. Instead of sitting at the desk, Yixing has taken his laptop to fold himself into one of the arm chairs, because they allow him to face towards the bed while he's working. Whenever he feels the inspiration waver slightly, he only has to cast a glance towards Yifan's sleeping form and suddenly the song will return to him, even stronger than before.

__

Yifan wakes at 9:00 a.m., but not of his own choice. It's his alarm that pulls him from his dreams, and not too gently either. He groans, full of reluctance, and the sound trails off into a whine. Blindly, he reaches for his phone on the nightstand and presses the button on the side that makes the room fall back into silence. Yifan sinks back onto the bed and exhales deeply. It takes him a few seconds to be awake enough to realise that there is no warmth pressed against his side, when it really should be there. Not that he really is surprised, Yixing has always been an earlier riser than him, but with how rarely they get to spend time together these days, Yixing usually stays in bed with him even when waking. 

The room is still dark around him even though the sun has long risen, the curtains still drawn. Yifan is grateful for that, because it means he doesn't find himself blinded once he opens his eyes. He immediately spots Yixing, sat in an armchair facing the bed, his MacBook on his lap and headphones over his ears. They are the ones Yifan got him for his birthday, and spotting them makes Yifan smile.

Even though every fiber of Yifan's body screams at him to turn around and go back to sleep, he sits up in bed and stretches his arms above his head. The motion finally alerts Yixing to his waking, not having heard Yifan's alarm.

"You're awake already," Yixing notes when he has saved his composition and taken down his headphones.

"Already?" Yifan laughs. "It' s nine, Xing, my alarm woke me."

"Nine?!" Yixing repeats, disbelieving shock in his voice as he finally checks the clock on his MacBook.

Yes, time really doesn't have a lot of meaning for Yixing.

"Since when have you been awake?" Yifan asks as he watches Yixing type down some final notes before shutting his laptop and putting it on the coffee table.

"Sometime around four, I think," Yixing answers, and walks over to the bed.

Yifan had intended to get up, but with Yixing crawling back onto the mattress and into his arms, he immediately changes his plans.

"Good morning," Yixing whispers once he is face to face with Yifan.

He's smiling in the way he only ever sees when they are together, the smile that is reserved for Yifan. One full of softness and adoration and Yifan can think of no better sight to wake up to.

"Good morning," he replies, and closes the distance between them to claim his good-morning-kiss.

Yifan wants to comment on how little sleep Yixing got that night, but the words get picked from his mouth by Yixing's lips seeking his.They stay in bed trading more kisses and enjoying each other's closeness until Yifan's second alarm rings, half an hour later. Neither of them wants to disentangle from the other, the feeling of warm skin against warm skin all too tempting, however. So they silence Yifan's phone without any intention to stop. When the second alarm goes off, however, there's no avoiding it anymore. Work is calling. They might not have a public schedule planned, but Yixing's day is packed tightly with interviews and meetings with producers, and Yifan still has to sort out the last details with his manager for his release party.

So, very reluctantly, they part in favour of climbing out of bed and stumbling into the bathroom. Since they ignored two of Yifan's alarms, their morning shower ends up being fast and efficient, even though Yixing still takes his time washing Yifan's hair and Yifan peppers Yixing's collarbone with kisses as the other massages Yifan's scalp.

__

At half past noon, Yifan is in a car, stuck in traffic. It's not too bad, however, because Yixing is between interviews, so he keeps texting Yifan right back. He would prefer talking with Yixing, but there are too many people around the other who can't know of their relationship, so they have to stick to a less suspicious form of communication.

Yixing is asking him about how to translate certain phrases from Chinese into English, clearly already preparing for his next interview. It makes Yifan's chest swell with pride to know that Yixing is barely relying on the help of his translator to manage his interviews. Yixing has made so much progress with English in such little time, and Yifan can't help but think that all those late-night skype sessions of studying together really paid off.

For the first time in his life, Yifan finds himself actually upset when the traffic clears up and he arrives at his destination faster than had thought he would. Yixing says he has to go either way, since he still has to get ready for the little photo shoot that will go with the next interview. They still manage to sneak texts back and forth, but they are few and far in between and no matter how much Yifan loves his work, he wishes the meetings would be over faster. In the evening, he has an interview scheduled with a big fashion magazine in his position as the new face for Louis Vuitton, but before that he will have time to stop by his hotel room.

Later that night, Yixing will be meeting with producers from New York, but the previous day he got the message that his afternoon schedule had been cancelled. So they both agreed on meeting in their hotel room for a few hours, wanting to make the most of the time they get to have together. Yifan wishes he could take Yixing out to go sight-seeing around New York, but Yixing had insisted that he'd rather get to see Yifan than see New York.

"But you have seen me so often, and you've never seen New York before," Yifan had argued, as if he wasn't dying to spend as much time with Yixing as possible.

"But I love you more than I love New York, so if I only get so spend time with one of you, it's not a difficult choice."

__

Yifan is caught in traffic once more at 3:00 p.m. but this time he is not liking it, at all. He is on his way back to the hotel, and every second that passes is a second that he's not with Yixing. Usually Yifan is not one to curse at other cars, but today he makes an exception. It's not as if it's really their fault, per se, but Yifan has to vent his frustrations somehow.

When he finally pulls into the underground car park of the hotel, it's almost half past three already. The elevator, although fast, isn't fast enough in Yifan's opinion. As nice as the view is from the 28th floor, in that moment Yifan wishes their room was on the second floor instead so he could take the stairs to get there. At least then he would have more control over how fast he gets to see Yixing again.

As he texts his impatience to Yixing, he receives a laughing sticker in response together with Yixing calling him silly. The few minutes it takes for the elevator to bring Yifan up to their room really don't make that much of a difference anymore. Yifan petulantly disagrees, and Yixing just laughs at him even more.

However, when Yifan eventually does make it up to the room, Yixing doesn't tease him for his impatience. It would have been a bit hypocritical, since Yixing is the one who barely let's Yifan close the door before he's pushing the other up against it and kissing Yifan senseless.

All the passion they were too tired for the previous night finds them now, and they grab each other as if their lives depend on it. They don't care where their clothes fly, and Yifan is actually impressed that they manage to make it to the bed. Yifan maps Yixing's body with his hands and mouth, and Yixing arches into his touches like a flower turning towards the sun that sustains it. It's a sight to behold, and even though Yifan still thinks Yixing's smile is the prettiest sight in the world, his face scrunched up in pleasure as he keeps chanting Yifan's name does come as a close second.

They manage to stay tangled together in bed until after the sun has set, resting only long enough to recover for another round. Around them, the room has fallen into darkness because neither of them could be bothered to turn on any of the lights. And even when Yifan's alarm rings to dutifully remind himself that he should start getting ready for his interview, Yixing's kisses are too intoxicating to break free from.

But this time, they don't get to just forget about the time, because Yifan's manager calls. She doesn't stop before Yifan picks up and promises that yes, he will not be late, yes, he is about to get dressed. Yixing presses a soft kiss to Yifan's sternum when he realises that the phone call is going to be a bit longer, then he gets out of bed and heads towards the bathroom. Minutes later, Yifan hears the sound of the shower, but he forces himself to focus on what his manager is telling him about the the interview he's about to head to.

While Yixing is cleaning up, Yifan takes the chance to take out the outfit he is going to wear, chosen meticulously to represent his own sense of fashion while also fitting the image the magazine would expect. He lays shirt and jacket out on the bed for one last inspection--having made sure to cover the mattress with the comforter first, so as to make sure he won't have any suspicious stains on his clothes that night.

Nodding to himself, Yifan gets interrupted in his thought process by warm hands on his waist and lips touching his shoulder blade. "Your turn."

Yixing passes by Yifan to sit on the bed, right next to Yifan's clothes.

"I bet you'll look really good in these," he says, one hand gliding over the soft fabric of the jacket as he smiles to himself.

Yifan only hums to himself in response, but doesn't move from his position until Yixing practically shoos him off to the bathroom to hurry.

His watch is constantly reminding him that he really has no more time to fool around, so he showers in less than five minutes. However, when he walks back into the room, he stills for a second upon the sight that greets him. Yixing is sprawled over the bed, fast asleep. It shouldn't really be all that surprising, given their previous activities combined with how little sleep Yixing got that night, but Yifan still didn't expect him to fall asleep that quickly. But Yixing needs all the sleep he can get, so instead of waking him, Yifan simply takes Yixing's phone from the coffee table. He sets an alarm for an hour later, which is the latest time for Yixing to wake up if he wants to be on time.

With a small smile on his lips, Yifan allows himself a moment to just watch Yixing sleep, then he moves to get dressed. Only then does he realise that there is a problem--Yixing has passed out on top of the clothes Yifan had laid out already. For a moment Yifan simply freezes. It's not as if that is his only set of clothes, far from it, but he is short on time, he can't just try and coordinate an entirely new outfit. It would take too long to figure out a new look he would be satisfied with. Being "fashionably late" has never been his style, and he doesn't intend to change that now.

He doesn't want to wake Yixing either, however. There's a high chance that Yixing won't be able to go back to sleep again, and Yifan couldn't bear to be responsible for having disturbed Yixing's rest. And simply pulling the clothes from beneath Yixing seems too risky, but what other choice does Yifan have?

It takes him a full minute of standing in the middle of the room, lost as for what to do, before an idea suddenly comes to his mind.

___

Yixing wakes with a start at 6:30 p.m., disoriented in the darkness. He blindly reaches to where his phone is buzzing angrily for his attention, and switches off the alarm with automatic movements. Then he drops his head back to the mattress, not even minding that he's lying on top of the comforter instead of under it or that he doesn't have a pillow.

He is close to drifting off again, but then his brain wakes up fully enough to remind him that he has a meeting to attend that he shouldn't be late for. With a groan, he turns so that he's lying on his back. He hadn't intended to fall asleep, and getting up now seems like a herculean task. He counts down from ten, then he sits up and as soon as the world stops spinning, he stands up. First he heads to the bathroom, and when he returns to the room he switches on the light. He winces as he gets momentarily blinded, he'll need the illumination to fully wake up.

It takes him a few moments to get used to the brightness, but as soon as he manages to keep his eyes open without squinting, he moves to pick a fresh set of clothes from his suitcase. He collects his laptop, earphones and everything else he will need for the night, then he turns towards the bed to collect his phone.

As soon as his gaze falls onto the bed, however, he freezes. In the previous darkness, Yixing hadn't noticed it, but on top of the white covers, right next to Yixing's phone, lies a single, black sleeve. Perhaps Yixing can blame it on having only just woken up, perhaps he can blame it on the absurdity of the situation, but it takes him a moment to recognise that it's a sleeve from the jacket Yifan had laid out earlier.

Even after having realised where the sleeve originally belonged, Yixing isn't any closer to figuring out _why_ it is there, however. Why would Yifan mutilate his clothes like that, and on short notice too? Yixing is absolutely certain that when he fell asleep next to it, the sleeve had still been attached to the rest of the jacket. Time doesn't permit Yixing lengthy musings, however, so he does the only thing he can think of to help him solve the mystery: He takes a picture of the severed sleeve and sends it to Yifan.

"What the heck," he merely texts, knowing Yifan will understand the underlying question.

__

It takes over an hour for Yifan to respond, but Yixing isn't too surprised by that. The other must be in the middle of his interview and photoshoot, so Yixing expects him to be too busy to text back.

"You were asleep and I didn't want to wake you," the message reads, together with a shrug emoji, as if cutting sleeves off of jackets was the most normal thing to do.

Yixing stares at his phone's screen for a whole minute in disbelief, not knowing whether to laugh out loud or not because Yifan couldn't be serious.

"Are you for real?"

"What? You fell asleep on my jacket, what was I supposed to do?"

"Wear a different jacket?? That's not a reason to mutilate a perfectly fine jacket!"

"It's not that easy to find another jacket that fits the outfit!"

"So you really went to your interview with a jacket that only has one sleeve?"

Another shrug emoji, and Yixing was about to send another "I can't believe you." when he saw that Yifan was still typing, so he deleted his text and waited.

"It worked out great, tho. They complimented me for it, saying that I had a very unique style and they really liked that. I told them I wanted to make a statement with my fashion, but I guess they're not Chinese enough to realise what kind of statement I was making."

And suddenly, Yixing feels a pang in his chest. Because this is the closest Yifan has ever been to being honest with the public, and it will probably be the closest he'll get, since there's too much on the line for both of them. Even when Yixing wishes to stroll around Central Park while holding hands with Yifan, but that's impossible. So perhaps cut sleeves are the only statement they get to make without giving too much away.

"I can't believe this actually happened," Yixing responds, because yes, this situation is just too absurd.

"I swear, you really fell asleep on it! It was like from the legend."

A few seconds later, another text arrives.

"Does that make me the emperor?"

"It makes you an idiot."

Yixing's fingers hover over his screen for a heartbeat, then he types out another message.

"But you know, I'd cut my sleeve for you as well."

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know, I wrote this whole thing within 5 hours and I don't think it even makes sense anymore but yeah, if you're confused about the cut sleeve thing, look [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Ai_of_Han)


End file.
